BookishlyJewish is always on the look out for new writers and unique styles of writing and telling stories to share with our readers. Therefore, we were thrilled to chat with author Abby Goldsmith about her upcoming progression SFF novel, MAJORITY.
Abby Goldsmith is the author of the Torth series, originally released on Wattpad and Royal Road with 750,000+ reads. She has sold short works to Escape Pod and Writer’s Digest Books, having attended the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop. Goldsmith is a 2D and 3D game animator, has lived on all three coasts of the United States, and is married to her favorite reader.
BookishlyJewish: MAJORITY is a new genre for the blog. Can you tell our readers a little bit more about Progression Fantasy and what it was like bringing this concept into the Sci-Fi space?
Abby Goldsmith: Progression Fantasy is defined by a leveling system, where a hero levels up within a pre-set system. This has a lot of overlap with superhero fiction, and also with litrpg, which takes place in a game world. To me, the key takeaways are that the hero gains a lot of power, and the rules for gaining power in that universe are well-defined. My series is not litrpg, but it does feature bioengineered superpowers.
BookishlyJewish: Who is MAJORITY’s intended audience and what do you hope they will take away from the story?
Abby Goldsmith: Like most authors, I want a wide audience, but I do see mine resonating more with male readers who are in their teens or twenties. I go deep with themes of oppression and power imbalances on the scale of individuals all the way up to the scale of galactic civilization, as well as the power/oppression ramifications of instant communication via social media. I hope my series gets readers to think more widely on these issues!
BookishlyJewish: What was the inspiration behind MAJORITY?
Abby Goldsmith: Can I say Nazism?
One of the biggest sociological questions of our era is: “How can an entire forward-thinking society elect a genocidal maniac and stand behind him for years? How does that happen?”
I wanted to explore that question through the exaggerated lens of science fiction. The Torth are incredibly oppressive. Why are they all uniformly okay with owning slaves? Why have they all collectively agreed to repress their own emotions? Why do they always elect sociopaths to lead their civilization? How did they get this way? Can they be changed?
Well, there are great answers to all of those questions. Read and find out!
BookishlyJewish: You mentioned some of the themes are informed by your personal background. Can you elaborate?
Abby Goldsmith: I grew up Reform Jewish in a traditionally Christian part of northern New England. Even though I got mistaken for Scots-Irish all the time, due to being a redhead, I had a sense of otherness from a young age. I was the weird kid whose parents had New York accents. My dad was a retired inventor. My mom was an artist, and I inherited the art obsession. Our family was the only one in town with a menorah instead of a Christmas tree. Kids like to pick on any perceived differences, and I was the weird one who didn’t quite act like everyone else in my elementary school.
Add in an early education on the history of antisemitism, plus a reading habit, and I was mulling over the question of “why?” throughout my childhood.
BookishlyJewish: There definitely seems to be a take on the future of social media in MAJORITY How does social media play a role in your own life either as a private person or as an author, and can you even differentiate those two things anymore?
Abby Goldsmith: Social media is an interesting new experiment for humankind. Instant global communication is in its infancy, and the ramifications have yet to be fully explored. I don’t see it explored enough in fiction. When everyone can vote on everything, that takes collectivism to a whole new level. How does individuality fit in? How does peer pressure and mob rule twist a society? I explore that in MAJORITY.
Of course, I hope our own world never takes it as far as the Torth Majority.
Social media tends to be superficial, because it’s risky to share anything super personal with the general public. The vast majority of Twitter and Instagram users, I think, are people with something to share or sell–artists and writers and marketers and service providers and self-help gurus. We all feel pressure to show up online a lot in order to please algorithms in order to gain the coveted visibility boost.
It’s also nice to stay connected with acquaintances. And doom-scrolling can be addictive. But overall, I hope our civilization can figure out a better way to connect people online. For now? I live in the world as it is. I participate in social media primarily because I want to reach more of an audience.
BookishlyJewish: Is there anything you wished I asked that I didn’t? This is the space for it!
Abby Goldsmith: Some readers see a Christ figure in MAJORITY. I did that on purpose, to subvert the trope of a holy savior Chosen One. The character of Ariock was set up to become the messiah by his own ancestor, with guidance from an oracle who died long before he was born. Ariock has everything handed to him on a silver platter, so to speak. He inherits great power, great wealth, great strength, without needing to earn it. Wise characters manipulate him onto the messiah path, and he claims that role without much effort. He even gets betrayed and sentenced to death by crucifixion (the betrayer is the actual hero of the series). So is Ariock the real deal? Or is it actually Thomas, the unsung hero who guides Ariock every step of the way? There’s a bit of a Frodo and Samwise relationship going on with Ariock and Thomas. Ariock is celebrated and worshiped and given all the credit for the victories … but it’s actually Thomas who masterminds every victory and who takes the biggest risks, all while being overshadowed by Ariock. In the end, everyone, including Ariock, has to acknowledge that.
BookishlyJewish: I always finish by asking if you have a favorite Jewish book or author you’d like to recommend to our readers.
Abby Goldsmith: I’m not sure if it’s kosher to mention deconversion stories, but I was blown away by All Who Go Do Not Return, a memoir by Shulem Deen. His experiences with the early internet resonate with me, and there are thematic overlaps with my book.
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